Ad agency Leo Burnett and the McDonald’s operators of Chicago and Northwest Indiana, unveiled a fitting tribute to the hometown Stanley Cup champions Chicago Blackhawks with a series of bus shelter displays featuring hockey sticks that looked like french fries. As part of the campaign the agency and McDonald’s will make a donation of hockey sticks to local youth hockey programs.

Within a few minutes of the Boston Bruins advancing to the Stanley Cup finals against the Canucks, Richmond, BC-based Boston Pizza was switching up their website to show Vancouver fans exactly where their allegiances lay. For the duration of the playoffs the restaurant will be known as Vancouver Pizza.

All 62 BC locations will be shipped Vancouver Pizza banners to coverup their signage and stickers for the takeout containers and boxes. Staff has even been instructed to answer the phones with “Hello, Vancouver Pizza”.

Montreal-based Zip Communications developed the idea of temporary rebranding last year, but the Canucks never ended up facing the Bruins. But it was put into action early in the 2011 playoffs when Montreal faced off against Boston.

With the 2010-11 Stanley Cup playoffs now in full swing, I was curious to see which NHL teams ranked highest for Facebook Likes and Twitter follows. OK before you start, I realize there are a lot more factors to consider in ranking an organization’s social media efforts than just the numbers. They all likely have sophisticated social media strategies that tie back to important business objectives, putting butts in the seats and selling merchandise – while icing an exciting team that is capable of going deep into the playoffs to provide even more revenue.

After I had collected the numbers from the team’s official Facebook and Twitter profiles it became obvious (but not surprising) that organizations with history and solid efforts such over the past few seasons ranked over the teams that have struggled. I decided it would be worthwhile to add in rankings for average game attendance (butts in seats) and their position in the overall standings at the end of the year.

The NHL puts a lot of effort into how teams manage their internet sites, the most obvious being the common template shared by all teams. The template is being stretched to its limits by the individual teams as links to social media can appear in a number of ways, from a local in the header, a link in the footer, a widget within the page of a link that can appear in any number of places within the sub navigation.

Onto the Numbers

The teams with the most followers on Twitter are Montreal (126,938), Vancouver (90,409) and Pittsburgh (81,981) while the teams with the most followers on Facebook are last years champions, Chicago (712,308), Montreal (653,510) and Boston (593,575). Teams with a long rich history such as the Original Six (Canadians, Hawks, Wings, Bruins, Leafs, & Rangers) all ranked within the top 11.

As expected teams like Toronto and Calgary with loyal fan bases had solid scores with social media and attendance but were pulled down by their poor performance this year.

Rankings

I added each team’s ranking for Facebook, Twitter, average game attendance and points together and then sorted them by the best scores. This ranking was created for my own entertainment (yes, I found this entertaining), let me know if you find anything interesting in the results.

The 2011 NHL Playoffs are set to begin on Wednesday, and despite a late-season surge our hometown Leafs are again – for the sixth straight year – getting an early start on their golfing season. By now Toronto hockey fans are used to following teams other than their own on the quest for Lord Stanley’s trophy, but just because the boys in blue didn’t make it, that’s no excuse to watch less hockey.

This year hockey fans can help raise money for Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart program by simply watching more hockey in the Playoff Payoff campaign. So, don’t worry about backing away from those pub nachos or risking a pulling a hamstring pull getting off the couch.

Hockey fans can get started by signing up on the JumpStart Facebook page. Next set your fundraising target and the number of playoff games you plan to watch, then invite your friends and family to support you on your noble playoff quest.

I’ve already set up my personal page, and I’ve set a modest target of watching 36 games. However, if this year is like any other I may watch that many before the end of the first round.

The person who raised the most money for JumpStart by May 13 will receive tickets and a travel voucher for a Stanley Cup final game of their choice.

My early prediction for the Stanley Cup finals is Philadelphia vs Vancouver, with the Canucks taking their first cup in 6 games.